The invention is directed to the field of bag dispensers and, more particularly, to plastic bags and bag dispensers for dispensing plastic bags.
In grocery stores and discount stores, customer purchases are typically loaded into plastic bags provided in stacked bundles known as bag packs. The bundles consist of a plurality of individual bags stacked into a pack and secured together using small welds or adhesives. The bags are typically either merchandise bags or T-shirt bags.
To expedite and simplify the bagging operation, the bag packs are commonly suspended on a metal supporting rack. Known merchandise bags comprise horizontal lines of weakness. These bags are typically supported vertically on supporting racks. The bags are removed from the supporting racks by severing the lines of weakness. For dispensing T-shirt bags, known supporting racks include laterally spaced support arms and a central hook located between the arms. The support arms extend through laterally spaced apertures formed in the handles of the bags, and the central hook extends through a central aperture formed in the bags. The bags are individually loaded and then pulled off of the support arms, before and during the bagging operation.
In grocery stores, the supporting racks are typically located at the end of checkouts. The supporting racks are portable so as to be selectively positionable on the checkout counter, or the racks are fixedly mounted to the checkout. Known racks are commonly fixedly mounted at ends of checkouts such that the support arms extend outwardly away from the checkouts. A disadvantage of these racks is that the arms are an obstruction and a potential source of injury to customers and employees.
Most known racks also have the disadvantage of being constructed for use with only one size of bag. Racks are known for dispensing bags only of certain lengths. Consequently, the most appropriate sized bag for loading a purchase is often not available to the bagger. The bag size may be too small, resulting in the purchased items having to be loaded into several bags that are difficult for the customer to carry. If the bag size is too large, a large bag is wasted for purchases that require only a small bag. Plastic bags are a petroleum product and sold on a weight basis. Accordingly, the potential cost savings for using smaller bags instead of larger bags in appropriate situations is substantial.
Another disadvantage of most known racks is that the support arms are fixed at one position on the rack. The particular position at which the arms are fixed can be important. In some cases it is only possible to mount the rack at a certain location at the checkout, and the arms may be improperly positioned for that location. For example, the suspended bags may be difficult to reach or the arms may obstruct customer traffic.
Most known racks also do not urge the suspended bags open during removal from supporting racks to ease the loading of items into the removed bags. Plastic bags have a tendency to stay closed due to static charges on the bags. Consequently, the bagger must often struggle to open the bags before being able to load items into them. This problem slows the bagging operation and can cause customer delays at checkouts. This problem has become especially important today with an increased number of senior citizens, having diminished hand dexterity, being employed as baggers, and due to the increased number of self-service checkouts at which inexperienced customers bag their own purchases.
Thus, in view of the above-described disadvantages of known dispensers, there is a need for an improved bag dispensing system for suspending and dispensing plastic bags that (i) includes no long laterally spaced arms that are an obstruction to persons in stores; (ii) enables the selective dispensing of different sized bags at a single location; (iii) provides for adjustable positioning of the bags on the bag dispenser; and (iv) urges the suspended bags open during removal from the dispensing device to expedite loading of the bags.